Robert Ciro Gigante (March 14, 1929 – December 31, 2013), known as Bob Grant, was an American radio host. A veteran of broadcasting in New York City, Grant is considered a pioneer of the conservative talk radio format and was one of the early adopters of the "combat talk" format. Grant's career spanned from the 1950s until shortly before his death at age 84 on December 31, 2013.
Grant was widely termed a political conservative, and personally considered himself to be a [[Libertarian conservatism
|conservative with some libertarian leanings]].
As a high school student at Steinmetz High School in Chicago, Grant auditioned for the Central Radio Workshop of the Chicago Public Schools, where once every two weeks he would perform in plays on FM radio station WBEZ. After high school, Grant attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and studied journalism, where he also auditioned and got accepted for the school's radio station. As a student, Grant acted in plays, such as "the Duchess of Malfi". Grant left school early to take a job in radio. Grant originally got into professional radio when he answered a phone call for his roommate, and the program director calling thought he had a good voice. On May 14, 1948, Grant did his first professional news announcement, to discuss the formation of Israel. He then got a job at the news department at WBBM (AM) in Chicago and also continued acting in plays. Grant may have done other work as an extra, but he did not discuss his acting work much on his radio show. Grant also worked on a radio show called "Gold Coast" in the late 1950s, which had comedy skits. While at WBBM, he was forced to change his last name from "Gigante" to "Grant" in order to sound less ethnic. During the Korean War, he served in the Naval Reserve.
Grant then moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Grant's first radio work in Los Angeles was on radio station KNX (AM) in 1959, where he worked with future actor Paul Condylis on the Condylis & Grant Comedy Show. The Los Angeles Times stated, "Their names are Paul Condylis and Bob Grant, voted by this corner as the outstanding newcomers of 1959. Prime Examples Condylis and Grant, a couple of dialecticians from Chicago, specialize in a form of comedy that is most popular today satire." Grant described the show as being similar to "Saturday Night Live" on the radio. Condylis and Grant would also entertain at places, such as college campuses. Afterwards Grant later became sports director at KABC (AM) in Los Angeles. Grant was then urged by co-worker and early controversial radio host Joe Pyne to substitute for him. Shortly after, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Pyne being a critic of Kennedy's was not allowed to host his show, and Grant substituted for him, eventually inheriting the show in 1964. Grant hosted three shows on KABC (AM) in 1964 titled, "Open Line," "Night Line," and "Sunday Line." While at KABC Grant would interview celebrities including Muhammad Ali, controversial figures such as Kwanzaa founder Ron "Maulana" Karenga, and politicians including Ronald Reagan in what Grant claimed was Reagan's first interview as a political candidate in 1965. While Grant would become a controversial radio figure, he started off more mellow. He competed during nighttime radio against his former co-worker and mentor Joe Pyne and radio commentator Michael Jackson. An October 25, 1964 Los Angeles Times article describes Grant's broadcasting style:
Bob Grant is a relative newcomer, but his background is solidly radio, having been a comedian, newscaster and sports announcer. He is the calmest and more inquisitive. Grant's audience appears to be older and he deals less in controversy than Pyne or Jackson. Grant, however, is versatile and discusses subjects intelligently. He is much less a showman than his counterparts.
Grant moved from KABC (AM) to KLAC in March 1967. Some of Grant's colleagues at the station were Joel A. Spivak, Les Crane, and mentor Joe Pyne. Grant was described as Los Angeles' most controversial nighttime radio host. In 1969, KLAC switched from a talk station to a music station. Grant was then asked to co-host a television show called "Tempo" with actress Jeanne Baird that aired on KHJ Channel 9 in Los Angeles from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. After some controversies, including offending guest Marlo Thomas, Grant was eventually let go and replaced by Regis Philbin in July 1970.
Move to New York City (WMCA: 1970–1977)
Grant was approached to come to New York by executives at WMCA when WMCA was going to become a talk station. He was recommended to them by Jack Thayer, who had been the station manager of KLAC. Grant was opposed to the move, as he hated what he knew about New York, i.e., the subways, crime, and congestion. He also had four children and a home in Los Angeles. Grant was convinced to come to New York when an executive said to him at the end of a meeting, "It's just too bad that the number-one talk-show host in America doesn't want to come to the number-one market in America." Grant came to New York and presented his first show on WMCA on September 21, 1970, where he worked for station manager R. Peter Strauss. After being in New York for a short time, Grant wanted to go back to Los Angeles. He was contacted by the former news director at KLAC, who was now a program director at another station to join his station, but Grant declined, because he had signed a two-year contract with WMCA. Grant's unhappiness being in New York led to him becoming angry with the callers. He hoped to get fired by R. Peter Strauss, however his ratings soared as he got angrier. Grant was quoted on May 23, 1971, about his new radio show in New York:
L.A. radio is really hip compared to New York. Here the scene is very provincial and ethnic and liberal. Being a conservative, I am referred to by most of my callers as the house right-winger or fascist. Actually, it gets pretty funny, because they do more yelling at me than engaging in useful debate. The audience in Los Angeles was much more sophisticated." [...] "Since WMCA started Dialog Radio, it's really shot up in the ratings, we've gone from around 12th to third in the market.
Grant was distinctively out of fashion with both the times and with some countercultural WMCA personalities, including Alex Bennett. His offbeat, but combative style (along with Fairness Doctrine requirements of the era) won him seven years on WMCA, with a growing and loyal audience. Grant became well known for his abrasive manner with callers and his popular catch phrase, "get off my phone." His sign-off for many years was "Get Gaddafi", which meant remove Muammar Gaddafi. In 1970, Grant quickly became a controversial opinion maker. Grant began saying, "we're slipping and sliding into third worldism", along with opposing the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Grant also came up with a solution to the high birthrate in the 1970s among poor women, which he called Bob Grant's Mandatory Sterilization Program or Act. This led to racism charges, but Grant denied that the program was only for minorities.
On March 8, 1973, Grant had scheduled New York Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal, who was leading a boycott of meat. Grant later learned that Rosenthal would not appear on his show, and in a discussion with a caller, Grant referred to Rosenthal as a "coward". Rosenthal then filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, and the issue went all the way up to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Straus Communications v. Federal Communications Commission, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, January 16, 1976, Wright, J. The appeals court ultimately ruled in favor of WMCA and Grant, due to the fact that Grant offered the congressman an invitation to appear on his show, granting Rosenthal equal time.
Grant did an early shock jock stunt while at WMCA. A female listener had called in and was curious about pornographic films. Grant decided to take women who listened to him on a trip to a Times Square porno theater to view a porn film. About 100 women showed up for the trip, followed by a roundtable discussion on Grant's show. Grant would have two more listener trips to see a porn film after this.